Pat Fry is one of the most experienced technicians on the entire Formula 1 grid. And for the British engineer, the arrival in Alpine, dated 2020 (when it was still branded Renault), was a sort of closure of the circle, given that the his adventure in the Circus began in 1987 at Benetton, one of the many brands that have passed through the current Enstone headquarters.
In his past, however, there are also two significant brackets in McLaren and Ferrari, with a spell of 17 years in Woking before arriving in Maranello in 2010. In 2016 there was also a move to Manor, before a brief return to McLaren (2018) and the landing in Enstone. Given his vast experience, it should not be surprising that in 2022 he was entrusted with the technical direction and therefore the guide of the A522 project, based on the new Formula 1 ground effect regulation, which he spoke about on the day was shown for the first time, a few hours after the debut on the track in the collective tests in Barcelona.
How big are the rules changes ahead of the 2022 World Cup?
“Quite simply, it is a massive revision of the technical regulations for this year, which Formula 1 has been working on for five years or more. I have seen a number of big rule changes in my Formula 1 career and this certainly is. among the biggest in terms of complexity and how restrictive the regulations are. When I started in Formula 1 the rule book was relatively short and now it’s very extensive! The main concept of change is to make overtaking easier and allow cars to race closer, although, the complexity of the rules heavily limits what we can do aerodynamically. It will be interesting to see the 10 different versions of the cars, as each team brings their own interpretation to the track. Of course, there is always the ‘opportunity to see right or wrong, so it will be intriguing to see what our rivals have come up with. “
How did you deal with these regulatory changes in designing and developing the A522?
“With any set of rules, you start with a blank sheet of paper. Our job is to dig into the wording of what each rule means and then see how we can exploit it within what is legal. The more people you have, The more ideas you can generate, the more ground you can cover. Rules changes are always exciting from a design point of view, but you have to stay reasonable and realistic. Performance in Formula 1 comes down to three things: the people, the tools they have to use. work and methodologies. We know these rules are quite restrictive. We did the best we could and everyone on the team did a great job. We will continue to improve these three fundamental pillars and the goal is to keep progressing. “
What were the main challenges in preparing for this season?
“In terms of the car, the key area for each team this year is to get the most out of the bottom, which needs to work very close to the ground and, at the same time, you need to get the cleanest airflow possible. for the rear of the car. There has also been a great deal of work at Viry to produce a completely new power unit for this year, before its specifications are homologated until the end of 2025. Furthermore, the close collaboration between Viry and Enstone on the packaging of the power unit allowed us some more freedom in shaping the rest of the car, to make better use of the latest technical regulations. Keeping the car at the weight limit is always a challenge, made particularly difficult this year with the big increase in chassis load tests for safety, which are, of course, for a very good reason. There is also the financial regulation, with the budget cap to deal with, and this presents a series of the ideas and strategies for the development of the car, which we are trying to capitalize on “.
How similar will the Formula 1 cars of 2022 be?
“I expect there to be a lot of differences between the cars, especially in the beginning, when we first see how we have interpreted the rules. Some parts are quite set, like the rear wing and the front wing. I’m sure there It will be some interesting concepts that we will see from other teams, which we will evaluate at the base after the tests, and I believe that the other teams will do the same thing as well.It is all part of the excitement when you come out of the box for the first time in the tests. Of course, we are all looking forward to seeing the A522 on track and seeing all the hard work done at Enstone and Viry over the past two years come to fruition. “
Alpine A522
Photo by: Alpine
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